Feature Article
For many, it was a life-defining experience—one that brought lasting friendships and new perspectives, inspired career changes and renewed people’s commitment to helping animals. Here, rescuers reflect on the devastating losses, the miraculous saves and the lessons learned in the aftermath of a storm that changed us all.
Feature Article
For those of us living outside the Gulf Coast in late summer of 2005, Hurricane Katrina seemed at first like a problem on TV: a swirl of Doppler behind a meteorologist, a distant disturbance that barely crossed the edges of our consciousness. The evening of Aug. 28, many of us had dinner, caught a smidge of the news, took our dogs out for a last evening pee break and said goodnight to the cats.
We woke up to a world that had changed.
Scoop
A long time coming
NIH move is momentous in campaign against Class B dealers
A new twist on an old challenge
Project aims to save a million feline lives
Mutterings
A round-up of fun, inspiring news tidbits from the animal welfare world.
The road to regional animal protection services
How one agency shifted to an animal control model that works better for its community
Thinking outside the box
Michigan advocate leads the fight to ban gas chambers
What's in a label?
Florida shelter takes the guesswork out of breed mixes
Who fosters? iFoster
Shelter boosts adoptions with virtual foster program
Windy city whirlwind
A tribute to the “cat man” of Chicago’s West Side
President's Note
Almost a decade ago, Hurricane Katrina ran aground in the Gulf Coast, whipsawing a great American city and leaving hundreds of communities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in shambles. The human tragedy was immediately obvious, with nearly 2,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
101 Department
I started using netson my first day as an animal control officer, more than 25 years ago. Faced with the task of catching a feral cat who had escaped into the backyard of a hoarder’s residence, I used a net with a small mesh size to safely and humanely contain and then transport the cat to the shelter. The mesh size of the net was important to the task—the holes were not large enough to fit a pencil through, and I noticed that the feral cat appeared calmer once inside the net, seeming to relax a bit once his body was enclosed by the small, dark mesh.
Life Preservers
When Tracy Mohr attended a presentation a few years ago by UC Davis veterinarian Kate Hurley about the benefits of shelters limiting their intake of community cats, she remembers thinking, “This sounds great!”
The Human Element
It’s only about three miles from the Milwaukee campus of the Wisconsin Humane Society (WHS) to the community on the city’s north side that makes up ZIP code 53206. “But three miles can be a long way, too, in terms of access,” notes Jill Kline, WHS vice president of community impact programs.
Unforgettable
Nearly a decade ago, the Arizona Humane Society’s (AHS) emergency response team and emergency animal medical technicians deployed to Louisiana to assist in rescue efforts following Hurricane Katrina. The conditions were overwhelmingly sad, and the number of animals needing help was great.
Of the 300 animals who made their way to Phoenix in the aftermath of Katrina, there was one in particular who caught the attention of staff and volunteers.
Mouthpieces
Sometimes it feels like every pet you adopt out is at risk. Download this Mouthpiece to remember that the number of animals entering shelters continues to drop.
Magazine Article
At a time of life when most people are savoring a more leisurely pace, Harold Sims of Cullowhee, North Carolina, is busier than ever and has no intention of slowing down.
Magazine Article
I came to the Humane Society of the United States in 2014 after a decade (more if you count those years I spent as a kid sitting in cat rooms and walking dogs way too big for me) overseeing operations at animal shelters. I wouldn’t say I was particularly excited about or motivated to fit policy into my daily workload of caring for homeless pets—until I worked for an animal shelter that was located in a city with breed-specific legislation, flawed policies that ban certain types of dogs based on their physical appearance.
Magazine Article
To see Teddy and Millie now—playful and friendly, outgoing and affectionate— you’d never guess what they’ve endured in their short lives. As part of an unnecessary test commissioned by Dow AgroSciences (now Corteva Agriscience), the beagles were force-fed a pesticide every day for more than seven months at a laboratory in Michigan.
Magazine Article
Vinnie Van Gogh, a reticent feline, spent four months at Dakin Humane Society before his photo appeared on the shelter’s website with the headline “The Socially Awkward Cat for the Socially Awkward Adopter.”
“Seriously all this guy requires is a couch and someone to give him his daily necessities,” the write-up by the Springfield, Massachusetts, shelter read. “Take him home, and have a perfect buddy for all those times that going out is just not worth the effort. He understands.”
Magazine Article
Two leaders in the animal welfare field, Washington, D.C.-based Humane Rescue Alliance and New Jersey’s St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center, announced a merger in early July to create what’s believed to be the first organization of its kind in the country.
As a result of this unique combination—two community-based, but regional-focused, animal welfare groups working across state borders—the joint organization has more resources to make a bigger impact in the areas it serves and beyond.
Magazine Article
If you watched the Golden Globes back in 2016, you couldn’t miss her: Collecting a Golden Globe for best actress in a television series, musical or comedy, Rachel Bloom was visibly ecstatic, motor-mouthed and breathless, practically leaping from the screen.
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